C-O-L-O-M-B-I-A :)
The sunrise over Barcelona as we drove to the airport was mind-blowing ... an intense blood-red changing to bronze as it got lighter.

Sunrise over Barcelona, 5th January

a beautiful start to a long day of travelling ...

In total contrast the sky above Bogota was menacing! Lightening was flashing on both sides of the very shakey plane and apocalyptic amounts of rain were beating down. All flights out were delayed a minimum of 2 hours if you were lucky enough that they hadn't already been cancelled!
And then, arriving very early this morning in Pereira, I found my driver from last years World Cup waiting with rolls of plastic at the ready to waterproof my bags for the trip to Roldanillo - it was as if I never left!
The only difference is that I now know the correct protocol for dealing with a night-time army road block!

After a couple of hours sleep and the breakfast I have been dreaming about for a year it was back-to-work!
It was amazing that as I walked through the town so many local people called out to say hello & ask if I had been away somewhere, they hadn't seen me for a few weeks!! ;-)

From this ...

... comes this :)

With Lucho at the wheel of the truck (always an 'exciting' experience!) we checked out the goal fields to see if 1. they are under water or 2. full of sugar cane.
The flooding is extensive though possibly not quite so high as last year - the sugar cane is green, spikey and just as tall as before ;-)
As we drove back from Cartago in the evening storms were dumping heavy rain but here in Rolda it's a warm dry evening ... but my eyes need matchsticks to hold them open so its goodnight from me!
Hasta mañana!